My First Build Thread, and a long time comin' Options

[skeates]

So...technically I started this restoration a month ago, but now it has a thread (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

A little history...This was my first car. I picked it up for $1200 back in high school and had it towed home with mice in the glove box and hoses going to no where in the engine compartment! My dad and I had it up and running off and on for three years before I shipped off to southern California for college. It has sat in the 'rents driveway for 5 years now (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif) waiting for the restoration that it deserves

Well...now that I'm edumacated and have a "real" job (and also have moved back to Northern California) my pockets are slightly deeper than in high school and the build has commenced!



So far I have stripped it to a tub, built me a rotisserie and washed off about 30 years of road grime and PO molestation. Along the way I even made a new friend! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif)

[skeates]

So - as soon as I got the engine in it was time to take it out again! While the main engine supports/cradle were all done, I still had one more mount to fabricate which supports the front of the engine. I was actually a bit surprised to see it there when I picked up the motor since I hadn't seen it on the other Subaru engine conversions around here. Apparently at some point (maybe '08?) Subaru added a front engine mount to their engines. Honestly, I was pretty happy to see it there since the whole cantilevered engine thing never sat well with me. While the engine was out I figured I'd get all the clutch stuff sorted out too.

Front Mount:



Here's the pedal cluster all fitted up. You'll probably notice that I borrowed the design from 76-914. It works great! The only difference is that I ended up using the original clutch clevis and pin by making a very high tech metric to SAE adapter (welded an M6 bolt to a 5/16" nut). Now the only pedal left to figure out is the electronic gas pedal.








While the engine was out I figured I'd get the clutch and flywheel installed too - no sense in pulling this thing out more times than I need to. So - I ponied up for the Exedy OEM clutch & flywheel kit. The flywheel is a lightened one and at 12.5 lbs I am a little bit worried about its street-ability, but I figure that's not hard to change down the road if it becomes a problem. At this point the price was right! One thing I found interesting is that the flex plate on the automatics are attached by 14 mm hex bolts, but the flywheels for the manuals use M10 Torx bolts! Weird...



and here the engine sits ready to be installed..again...